Industrial production declined 0.9 percent in August following six consecutive monthly gains. Hurricane Harvey, which hit the Gulf Coast of Texas in late August, is estimated to have reduced the rate of change in total output by roughly 3/4 percentage point. The index for manufacturing decreased 0.3 percent; storm-related effects appear to have reduced the rate of change in factory output in August about 3/4 percentage point. The manufacturing industries with the largest estimated storm-related effects were petroleum refining, organic chemicals, and plastics materials and resins.

The output of mining fell 0.8 percent in August, as Hurricane Harvey temporarily curtailed drilling, servicing, and extraction activity for oil and natural gas. The output of utilities dropped 5.5 percent, as unseasonably mild temperatures, particularly on the East Coast, reduced the demand for air conditioning.

At 104.7 percent of its 2012 average, total industrial production in August was 1.5 percent above its year-earlier level. Capacity utilization for the industrial sector decreased 0.8 percentage point in August to 76.1 percent, a rate that is 3.8 percentage points below its long-run (1972–2016) average.

Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization: Summary

Seasonally adjusted

Industrial production

2012=100

Percent change

2017

2017

Aug. '16 toAug. '17

Mar.[r]

Apr.[r]

May[r]

June[r]

July[r]

Aug.[p]

Mar.[r]

Apr.[r]

May[r]

June[r]

July[r]

Aug.[p]

Total index

103.9

105.0

105.1

105.3

105.7

104.7

.2

1.1

.1

.2

.4

-.9

1.5

Previous estimates

103.9

104.9

104.9

105.3

105.5

.2

.9

.0

.4

.2

Major market groups

Final Products

100.2

101.9

102.1

101.9

102.0

101.4

.4

1.8

.1

-.2

.1

-.5

.8

Consumer goods

103.6

105.0

105.6

105.2

105.6

104.8

.3

1.3

.6

-.3

.3

-.7

-.3

Business equipment

99.7

102.9

101.8

101.4

100.9

100.5

.4

3.1

-1.1

-.4

-.5

-.4

1.9

Nonindustrial supplies

105.4

105.7

105.6

105.5

105.9

104.7

.0

.3

-.1

-.1

.4

-1.2

.8

Construction

111.0

111.9

111.1

110.8

110.8

110.2

-1.3

.8

-.7

-.3

.0

-.6

2.9

Materials

106.3

107.0

107.1

107.7

108.4

107.2

.1

.7

.0

.6

.6

-1.1

2.4

Major industry groups

Manufacturing (see note below)

102.6

103.9

103.4

103.5

103.6

103.3

-.7

1.2

-.5

.2

.0

-.3

1.5

Previous estimates

102.6

103.8

103.2

103.4

103.4

-.7

1.1

-.6

.2

-.1

Mining

106.6

107.5

108.5

109.7

111.2

110.3

-.4

.9

.9

1.2

1.3

-.8

9.7

Utilities

101.5

101.6

104.4

103.4

104.9

99.2

8.2

.1

2.7

-1.0

1.5

-5.5

-7.8

Capacity utilization

Percent of capacity

Capacitygrowth

Average1972-2016

1988-89high

1990-91low

1994-95high

2009low

2016Aug.

2017

Aug. '16 toAug. '17

Mar.[r]

Apr.[r]

May[r]

June[r]

July[r]

Aug.[p]

Total industry

79.9

85.2

78.8

85.0

66.7

75.8

75.9

76.6

76.6

76.7

76.9

76.1

1.1

Previous estimates

75.9

76.5

76.5

76.7

76.7

Manufacturing (see note below)

78.4

85.6

77.3

84.6

63.7

74.7

75.1

75.9

75.5

75.6

75.6

75.3

.7

Previous estimates

75.1

75.9

75.4

75.5

75.4

Mining

87.0

86.1

83.8

88.6

78.4

77.9

82.2

82.6

83.2

83.9

84.8

83.9

1.8

Utilities

85.6

93.2

84.7

93.2

78.1

81.1

75.8

75.8

77.9

77.1

78.2

73.9

1.1

Stage-of-process groups

Crude

86.1

87.7

84.5

90.1

76.3

78.2

81.6

82.1

82.6

83.5

84.1

82.7

2.0

Primary and semifinished

80.5

86.5

78.1

87.8

63.8

75.9

75.5

75.8

76.1

76.0

76.2

75.0

.7

Finished

76.9

83.4

77.3

80.6

66.7

74.6

74.3

75.6

75.0

74.9

74.9

75.0

.8

r Revised. p Preliminary.

Market Groups

The output of consumer goods moved down 0.7 percent in August. Consumer durables posted an increase of 0.8 percent, but this gain was offset by declines in the indexes for consumer nondurables and consumer energy products, which fell 1.1 percent and 4.8 percent, respectively. The large drop in the output of consumer energy products reflected the weather-related decrease in utilities output as well as the hurricane-related reduction in petroleum refining. The index for business equipment moved down 0.4 percent, as a decline of 1.1 percent in industrial and other equipment was partially offset by gains elsewhere. Construction supplies recorded a decrease of 0.6 percent, and the output of business supplies fell 1.5 percent. The production of materials dropped 1.1 percent. The indexes for energy materials and for nondurable materials each fell nearly 2 percent; although both indexes were reduced as a consequence of Hurricane Harvey, the output of energy materials was also lowered by the cut for utilities. The production of durable materials rose 0.5 percent.

Industry Groups

Manufacturing output decreased 0.3 percent in August. A gain of 0.3 percent for durables was outweighed by decreases of 0.9 percent for both nondurables and other manufacturing (publishing and logging). Among durable manufacturing industries, the largest increase was recorded by motor vehicles and parts, which rose 2.2 percent following a drop of 4.2 percent in July. Other notable gains in durable manufacturing in August came from the indexes for primary metals and for aerospace and miscellaneous transportation equipment, each of which advanced more than 1 percent. The largest contributors to the decline in nondurable manufacturing were the indexes for chemicals and for petroleum and coal products, both of which were held down by factory shutdowns related to Hurricane Harvey.

In August, the index for mining dropped 0.8 percent while the output of utilities fell 5.5 percent. Within mining, all of the major components recorded losses; the largest decrease was for oil and gas well drilling and servicing, which fell for a second month in a row. Even so, the index for mining in August was 9.7 percent above its year-earlier level.

Capacity utilization for manufacturing moved down 0.3 percentage point in August to 75.3 percent, a rate that is 3.1 percentage points below its long-run average. Utilization for durable manufacturing increased 0.2 percentage point to 74.5 percent, while the operating rate for nondurable manufacturing fell 0.7 percentage point to 77.2 percent. The operating rate for mining decreased 0.9 percentage point to 83.9 percent, and the rate for utilities fell 4.3 percentage points to 73.9 percent.

Note. The statistics in this release cover output, capacity, and capacity utilization in the
U.S. industrial sector, which is defined by the Federal Reserve to comprise manufacturing,
mining, and electric and gas utilities. Mining is defined as all industries in sector 21 of the
North American Industry Classification System (NAICS); electric and gas utilities are those in
NAICS sectors 2211 and 2212. Manufacturing comprises NAICS manufacturing industries (sector 31-33)
plus the logging industry and the newspaper, periodical, book, and directory publishing industries.
Logging and publishing are classified elsewhere in NAICS (under agriculture and information
respectively), but historically they were considered to be manufacturing and were included in
the industrial sector under the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system. In December 2002
the Federal Reserve reclassified all its industrial output data from the SIC system to NAICS.